Life-Bringers in Low Places

So it has been a really long time since I have written anything, but recently I was so impacted by a verse that I decided I needed to share it. Here it is:

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Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs
Psalms 84:5 - 6

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Our hearts are on a pilgrimage, a journey towards eternity with God. It is for certain that on this journey there will be mountain tops and valleys. As Christians, we are not immune to the valleys. Do I think God forces us into valleys, pushes us off the mountain tops to give us a character boost or teach us a lesson? Not at all. But as Christians in a fallen world, we will still experience the consequences of sin, our own or just the consequences of a broken world. We will find ourselves and those around us facing sickness, hurts, anxieties... But that is not our final destination. Notice in the scripture, we are passing through these valleys. The Valley of Baka, from what I read, is also translated the Valley of Weeping, but whatever the name of the valley, we know that valleys are symbolic of low, dry places. Thank God we are just passing through them and that we are not there to stay. But even while we are in them, we are not to suffer through them, to succumb to the dryness and to the difficulty. I'm not sure if you caught it the first time, so here it is again: Those whose strength is in HIM, they pass through the valley and..... THEY MAKE IT A PLACE OF SPRINGS. This means that if we are connected to Him, if He is our source of life and strength, we transform the valleys we find ourselves in. We are to be springs, fountains, gushing geysers in the midst of the valley. We are to be life-bringers in low places! How incredible is that! God wants us to be conduits of His life-giving water wherever we are. So the next time you find yourself in a valley, don't let yourself be transformed by it, brought down to sorrow and sadness, trudging on to the other side until you finally reach another mountain top. No, you are the one who's supposed to be doing the transforming. Start living this and watch how you'll walk through valleys with joy, no longer a victim but a victor. Watch how you'll be a source of life for those in the valley with you and how they, too, can start bringing forth life. Watch how when all these individual springs connected to the One True Source come together to transform the valley, God is made known, His authority is given its rightful place, and the enemy becomes powerless. Start seeing your valleys as opportunities to cling to God and to make Him known, to transform lives and to defeat the enemy. Could this bring clarity to the verses that tell us to consider it joy to face trials, because it tests our faith and produces perseverance? (James 1:2-3). This does not mean we would simply struggle through and come out better off for it, but that we would hold fast to our faith despite our circumstances, and pour forth living water until our current reality aligns with heaven's. That to me is perseverance: a faith that does not quit, glorifies God, AND (without just stopping there) demonstrates His power. Knowing that we are called to transform the valleys of this world, we could rejoice so much more in our suffering knowing that when we enter into a place or time of suffering, we will persevere until we see victory, which will produce character, which will then in turn produce hope. (Romans 5:3-4). Otherwise, what hope is produced by perseverance alone without the power to change our situation? Hope comes when our character is changed because we have persevered unto victory with the authority that God's word tells us we are supposed to be using in Psalm 84:5! …. Well, I’m going to stop myself there, because that’s all God gave me and I don’t want to add anything else. I'm not a theologian and I’m not saying I have this all perfectly figured out, I just believe that God opened my eyes to some truth in these verses that I didn’t see before. It encourages me and all I hope is that your perspectives on the valleys of this life can be changed too so that you can start transforming them and God's power and glory can be made known.

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Cela fait très longtemps que je n’ai rien écrit ici, mais récemment j’étais tellement touchée par un verset que j’ai décidé de le partager. Le voici :

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Heureux ceux qui trouvent en toi un refuge

et qui ont à cœur ce pèlerinage !

Quand ils passent par la vallée du Baumier,
ils la changent en oasis
Psaumes 84:5-6

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Nos cœurs sont en pèlerinage, en route vers l’éternité avec Dieu. C’est sûr que pendant ce voyage il y aura des sommets et des vallées. En tant que chrétiens, nous ne sommes pas à l’abri de rencontrer des vallées. Est-ce que je pense que Dieu nous force à aller dans les vallées, qu’il nous pousse des sommets pour développer notre caractère ou nous apprendre une leçon ? Pas du tout. Mais en tant que chrétiens dans un monde déchu, nous allons quand même vivre les conséquences du péché, les nôtres ou tout simplement ceux de ce monde perdu. Nous nous retrouverons, et ceux qui sont autour de nous, à affronter des maladies, des blessures, des angoisses… Mais ce n’est pas notre destination finale. Remarquez que dans le verset, nous passons par ces vallées. D’après ce que j’ai lu, la vallée du Baumier est aussi traduit « La vallée des larmes », mais peu importe le nom qu’on lui donne, nous savons que les vallées sont symboliques des endroits bas et secs. Merci Seigneur car nous passons seulement par ces endroits et nous n’y restons pas. Mais même pendant que nous nous y trouvons, nous ne devons pas souffrir tout le long, céder à la sécheresse et à la difficulté. Je ne suis pas sûre que vous l’ayez bien vu la première fois, alors encore une fois : ceux qui trouvent en LUI un refuge passent par la vallée et…… ILS LA CHANGENT EN OASIS. Cela veut dire que si nous sommes connectés à Dieu, s’il est notre source de vie et de force, nous transformons les vallées dans lesquelles nous nous trouvons. Nous sommes appelés à être des sources, des fontaines, des geysers jaillissants au milieu de la vallée ! Nous sommes appelés à apporter la vie dans les endroits les plus bas. Que c’est merveilleux ! Dieu veut que nous soyons des conduits de son eau vive dans n’importe quel endroit. Alors, la prochaine fois que vous vous trouvez dans une de ces vallées, ne vous laissez pas être transformés, affaiblis ou détruits par l’affliction et la tristesse en traînant les pieds jusqu’à l’autre côté pour atteindre enfin un autre sommet. Non, au contraire, c’est vous qui devez accomplir des transformations. Commencez à vivre tout cela et vous verrez comment vous passerez par les vallées avec joie, plus comme une victime mais comme un vainqueur. Vous verrez comment vous serez une source de vie pour ceux qui sont dans la vallée avec vous et comment ils peuvent aussi devenir à leur tour une source. Vous verrez que lorsque toutes ces sources individuelles (mais connectées à la Seule Vraie Source) se réunissent pour transformer la vallée, Dieu est révélé, son autorité prend sa place légitime, et l’ennemi devient complètement impuissant. Commencez à regarder les vallées comme une occasion de vous accrocher à Dieu et de le révéler, de transformer des vies et de vaincre l’ennemi. Est-ce que cela pourrait rendre plus clairs les versets qui nous disent de nous considérer comme très heureux quand nous affrontons des difficultés parce que cela met notre foi à l’épreuve et cela produit la persévérance ? (Jacques 1 :2-3). Cela ne veut pas dire que nous devons combattre à chaque épreuve pour ressortir meilleurs mais que nous devons tenir fort à notre foi malgré les circonstances et faire couler cette eau vive jusqu’à ce que notre réalité actuelle s’aligne avec celle du royaume de Dieu. Pour moi, c’est ça la persévérance : une foi qui n’abandonne pas, qui glorifie Dieu, ET (sans s’arreter là) qui manifeste son pouvoir. En sachant que nous sommes appelés à transformer les vallées de ce monde, nous pourrions nous réjouir beaucoup plus dans nos souffrances parce que nous savons qu’en entrant dans un temps de souffrance, nous allons persévérer jusqu’à ce que nous voyions la victoire, ce qui produira la résistance aux épreuves et qui produira à son tour l’espérance ! (Romains 5 :3-4). Sinon, quelle espérance serait produite par la persévérance uniquement, sans le pouvoir de changer notre situation ? L’espérance vient quand notre caractère est changé parce que nous avons persévéré jusqu’à la victoire avec l’autorité que la parole de Dieu nous donne d’exercer en verset 5 de Psaumes 84! .... Bon, je vais m’arrêter là parce que c’est tout ce que Dieu m’a donné et je ne veux rien y ajouter. Je ne suis pas théologienne et je ne dis pas que j’ai tout comprit parfaitement, mais je crois tout simplement que Dieu m’a ouvert les yeux à des vérités dans ces versets que je ne voyais pas avant. Ça m’a encouragé et tout ce que j’espère c’est que votre perspective sur les vallées de cette vie pourra changer pour que vous puissiez commencer à les transformer et que le pouvoir et la gloire de Dieu puissent être révélés.

It's a Good Friday!

I have so much to say right now, God let this come out cohesively!

First of all! JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay. that's our subject today. Jesus. Something Pastor Jim was saying on Sunday has stuck with me and is resounding in my heart continually. Jesus was in heaven, in all His glory, the fullness, living in perfection. What could make Him want to leave that place? What could possibly be missing? What more could God Himself desire to make Heaven more perfect? You. YOU. YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU! You are what made Jesus want to leave Heaven, to say, "Heaven would only be more perfect if YOU were here with Me." So He got up from His throne, seeing our condition, knowing with all our sin we'd never get into this place of perfection called Heaven and He said, "I'm going to get her." "I need him here." "I'll be back soon." Knowing exactly what He would face here on earth, He came with pleasure because of His intense love for the people He created. He came after you, after me, in the greatest act of Love, to write the most beautiful Love story full of pursuit and rescue!

And not only did He come that He could have us for eternity when our time here on earth here has passed, but He came so that we could see Him, know He is real, know His love, receive His Spirit, and live with a Heavenly perspective. That we would know our time here is passing and see everything through the eyes of the eternal, through the eyes of Heaven, so we could live in power and live in freedom--the freedom that comes with knowing we are forgiven. Sin leads to death, plain and simple. God knew that there was a standard set that we could never meet and therefore we would all end in death. HE COULDN'T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF THAT! And so God Himself said "You are worth everything" and came down to bring us up to that standard by taking our place in death, on the cross, because of OUR sin. When God dies as the natural payment for sin-One who never sinned, ever-it is enough to be the payment for all sins of all mankind forever! ( And as we all well know, God doesn't end in death!!!! He is simply stronger than death and the grave, it could not keep Him down, but that's another story for another day - Happy Easter ;) )

So now we're free to live in forgiveness, but don't we get ourselves worked up and still feeling guilty or trapped sometimes? Well something beautiful hit me as I read a part of the book Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander. Here's the bit:

"One of the biggest mistakes people make when they think about God is to imagine God as impersonal. Yes, God is behind the numbers, the perfection of the universe that science measures and struggles to understand. But--again, paradoxically--God is "human" as well--even more human than you and I are. God understands and sympathizes with our human situation more profoundly and personally than we can even imagine because God knows what we have forgotten, and understands the terrible burden it is to live with amnesia of the Divine for even a moment."

God came not only to forgive, but to UNDERSTAND us (not that He didn't before, but He wanted US to know He understands us). Knowing that we are human and even if we knew we were forgiven, we'd allow ourselves to feel insignificant and burdened by our sin at times, He wanted to be able to look us in the eyes and tell us, "I understand." What do we long for more when we go to someone with our mistakes, our confessions? What do we hope for more than for that person to understand enough how we could've acted that way or said those things and to forgive us because they understand? And that's another beautiful element of what Jesus came for. He forgives because He understands. So even when we come to Him with the same mistake for the millionth time that we promised we'd change or never do again, He can still say, "It's okay, I understand" and renew to us the Heavenly perspective (the reality) of perfection that He bought for us the day He died on the cross. And in that we continue to live in the beauty of His forgiveness, the beauty of the freedom that He bought for us the moment He died in our place, the moment that He looked at death, looked at us, and looked back at death again and said, "I'll take it."

SO LIVE FREE, LIVE FORGIVEN, LIVE IN LOVE WITH THE ONE THAT CAME AFTER YOU BECAUSE HEAVEN WOULDN'T BE AS PERFECT WITHOUT YOU!

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace..." Hebrews 4:14-16

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9

His dreamers.

I'm about to attempt to be inspirational from my bed at 2 in the afternoon in my pajamas. (Panda has blessed me with her laptop and this is what it has done to me!) But hey, it's not about when and where you get inspired, it's what you do with it right?!

So I am graduating in May. WOOOOOOO!! and there is SO much life ahead. the pressure to get into a career and get settled into the routine that everyone expects is massive! buuuuut here's where i make a big bold statement. I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT! ha!!!!!!!

It's just time to follow what makes our hearts come alive.

A couple of people that have stirred this inspiration today....I look at my sister & Matt. They're following their dreams and passions. They don't have it all planned, but they're following day by day. and anyone that is watching from the sidelines recognizes the beauty and excitement of God's goodness all over them. It is absolutely undeniable. They have lives that I know people wonder about..the kind of lives you look at and say maaaan what is it about them ?! They find favor in everything. They are discovering their dreams. They are being given the desires of their hearts. It is no coincidence. Ex: Matt's written his book, is creating his cd, Jess is in a full-time teaching position, they're pursuing music in every way, they're worship leaders that are blatantly doused in God's glory, they just won a trip to Ireland and were given free flights after the fact, and the moment by moment details of their lives are simply a pursuit of being with Him and enjoying all that He is and has for us. I also look at my old, dear friend from YWAM and her husband Jess and Shaun Hover. (Hi Jess, you don't even know how you constantly inspire me as I stalk your life! Miss you!). Another two people, following their dreams and passions and finding favor. Doing what they love and changing lives by God's love in the process. Does it get any better than that honestly? Shaun's skating it up and sharing God's heart all over the world. Jess is practically owning Fashion Week all over the US and being given insane opportunities. Both of them out there unveiling God's desire for His children to those that might have not otherwise known it and through the very things they are passionate about. COME ON!

And I've sat back and watched  (often times in jealousy) wondering why not me not yet? How did they get these lives that I would give anything to have that kind of life. God stopped me in my tracks and said "You have your own adventure to write." REALLY!? There's just something about when GOD says something to you. Anyone could've said that to me and I would've been like yeah yeah thanks. But when GOD says it.... it just struck my heart with such excitement!!! I feel so alive right now from my little cozy corner of my bedroom in my pajamas, I feel alive! I feel a renewed passion and excitement that at the close of this one chapter in my life is an opening to a new chapter that God has already written and is jumping up and down with anticipation for me to step into it with Him! And I know it includes the desires of my heart, and my passions. And I know I will be doing what I love and changing lives by His love in the process. Because God has GREAT things for us all. One is no "luckier" than the other. He brings us all into His plans for us step by step and into the fullness at appointed times. My goodness I can rejoice for those that are living their dreams and rejoice in God that I am in the process and have so much awaiting me!

I get that big picture view again. I zoom out. One life people...one life. I can not bear the thought of doing things how they should be for the sake of doing what I'm supposed to. I'm a dreamer and God LOVES that. And He LOVES when His dreamers recognize that their dreams are His dreams planted by Him before we knew Him. And He LOVES when His dreamers look to Him and say, "God, I won't settle for less than dreams come true,  because I know that you're in the business of making God-given dreams come true!" And He LOVES when we're willing to take on the adventure, sacrifice normalcy and comfort, and GO wherever He leads!

So be inspired wherever you're at right now. Go to God with your dreams, let Him tell you how He's so happy you came to Him, listen to His voice, follow His lead, let Him take you one step at a time even if those steps seem to take you away from the dreams at times TRUST HIM-He sees the whole story-and watch the beauty unfold!!!!!

Be A Stranger.

Sometimes our minds can wander to some dark places. We can choose to wander with it, or we can call it for what it is and stay in the light. I used to not be so good at making this decision. I didn't realize I had a choice. I used to not just let my mind wander, but I'd grab hands with it and dive headfirst into places I never wanted to be...for me, this mostly had to do with the past - hurts from other people and myself, the people they used to be, the things they said, and the person I used to be. It wasn't until 2010 that I finally realized I had a choice. I was talking to a precious friend, Karl..he was telling me how he hated the things he had done, the mistakes he'd made, and yet the images and memories kept coming back to his head. I knew what he meant cause I'd felt it before, and though I'd never had a remedy for it myself, that moment God spoke to me and through me. I started to tell Karl that in the face of those thoughts and images he could say, "I don't know who that person is, so I'm not going to go there. I know who I am though, and I am a completely pure and loved child of God. Entirely redeemed." He and myself both kind of shared a moment of wow...I literally am a stranger to the person of the past. (Karl is with Jesus now and knows more than ANY of us just how freeing it is to see with God's eyes and to live in His perfect Love). No matter what the world says, God says He's forgiven and washed me free of anything that once left a mark on me and even more than that, He has forgotten it-by  His own Love and goodness, He chooses to forget it so that we can too. I was set free by those words from God Himself in that moment. I never had to be marked by what I "once was" - that's a dead person. But the me that came alive when I fell in love with Jesus, that's the only me I ever have to know, the me that God sent His son for so that He could have! God did not send Jesus to pay for sin and to take our place so that He could look at us and say "You are so perfect, even though I will always hold on to and remember what you've done, you're still perfect"... Noooooooo no no no nooo! He says you are ALTOGETHER BEAUTIFUL I see NO blemish in you! This is incredible..

I almost never get a thought like this anymore about myself. When I say I was set free, I truly am. But I was just driving home and, for the first time in a long time, I got some thoughts about OTHER people, people that I love, that I know are completely new people in Christ, and yet for some reason these thoughts started coming in about their pasts and the people that they "once were"... I was thinking on things that are literally dead and gone, but as I continued to think even just for a few second about the hurts that came from how these people once were, my stomach was in knots and I wanted to cry...Thank God, in His always so gentle way, He stepped in..

He said, "I know daughter..this is a terrible, harsh life and the "reality" is that you only get one chance. So when people make mistakes, when you've made mistakes, there's no undoing it, it's there no matter what. Once you've walked that road, you've made that decision, you can't take that out of your history and the shame and the regret follows you forever and its inescapable....that's how it is for the world...but my daughter, you are not of this world..the people you are thinking of, they are not of this world. You are mine. They are mine. The REAL reality is that I have given you a reset button of Grace. I have given everything so that you can let go, forget, and move on. I have given you the washing of redemption for a life that you thought was ruled by the principles of this world. But guess what, you live by the rules of My World, of My Kingdom, and I say, reset as needed. Use my Grace as needed. I trust you won't take advantage of me, and I desire that you would freely take of this gift of Grace. There is no sin, no error, no bad decision, no shame that can remain. The world will say you can't hide from your past, I'm telling you that there is nothing to hide from. My children are made new once and for all and anytime you need a reminder for yourself, look into my eyes of Grace. Anytime you need a reminder for someone else, look through my eyes of Grace."

I just drove, overwhelmed, crying tears of joy, and thanked God. This world has given us some nasty rules that will try to convince us we must live by them, but God is bigger than this world, bigger than this "one chance" life. He has an eternal mindset and an unrelenting love. He wants us to have the same. Become a stranger to things that you once attached to your identity. This is not an escape, or an excuse, or a way to pretend you've never made a mistake - know that we are human and we will always make the choice to do something, say something, or act a way that we wish we hadn't - acknowledge that, but don't identify with that. Identify with God's view of you. Moment by moment, He is always saving you, always redeeming you. There's not a split second that His Grace stops covering you. or the people around you for that matter. Identify yourself as redeemed and identify everyone around you that has found themselves in Christ that way. Let us all be able to laugh in the face of an accusation on our identities, and choose to dance in the glorious light of who God says we are. Nothing can change His view of you.

"As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Psalm 103:12

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins."
Isaiah 43:25

"For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
Hebrews 8:12

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39

Purpose.

Imagine a love that has seen your every move from your best to your worst and still loves you with the same great love as the day you met.. A love that chases after you when you're trying to run and hide.. A love that sees your mistakes, that actually uncovers them, only to say "I see no blemish in you" (Song of Songs 4 :7).. A love that will not take "no" for an answer, because it knows that it's love is what's best for you.. A love that looks at your past and sees only beauty, that looks at you presently and sees only perfection, that looks at your future with unbearable excitement.. This is the love of a God that is calling your name and my name. He's saying, "Hurry! Take my hand! I don't want you to miss a second! I've got so much to give you and show you!" Not only is He our Savior who rescued us from a life of darkness, disappointment, and ultimately death, but He is our romancer! He says, "I have not only taken the bad away, but I've come to spoil you! To lavish you with great gifts, to make you fall in love with me everyday as you see how much I love you! So much that I created you just to know you!"

Anyone need purpose for today? For the rest of your life? It's found in God. Your purpose is to be loved by Him. That's your job. That's what you were created for. He made you so that you could know Him, so that He could give you a beautiful life here on earth to share with Him, and to give you a chance to want Him too, so that you could spend eternity together, so that you would never have to know death, but instead know a Divine Romance, today and forever. He wants to be found by YOU so He can let you feel your purpose. You literally were made for this! I was made for this! I was not made for waitressing at Ruby Tuesday (if you can believe that). I was not made for being a teacher, or a dancer, or a writer. These are all ways God will use us. But they are not our purpose! Our sole purpose is to be loved by Him! Feeling bored? Feeling alone? Feeling like today is a waste? Spend some time being loved by Him. Listen to Him. Respond to Him. He's here, right now, reading alongside you and smiling and saying COME ON LISTEN TO THE GIRL, SHE'S RIGHT ... ;) There's nothing better than waking up and knowing "I was made for being loved today, and that's what I'm going to do!" So do it! Go seek out and get to know the one who is CRAZY about you. and see what it's like to have purpose, and see what it does in all the areas of your life that God has you in and will bring you to. I can guarantee when you feel that kind of love, you won't be able to do anything but fall in love right back.



See that He promises that if you seek Him, you'll find Him, He'll give you every good thing, He'll tell you of the great things He has for you...

“Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known."
Jeremiah 33:2-3 (ESV)

"Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you."
Psalm 9:10 (NLT)

"But from there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him."
Deuteronomy 4:29 (NLT)

"The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing."
Psalm 34:10 (NIV)

"The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him."
Lamentations 3:25 (NLT)

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord"
Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NASB)

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Matthew 7:7-8 (NASB)

life doesn't have to be mediocre

It's funny when you arrive at a crossroad, or rather, crash into the road sign and realize you are there. You find you have some decisions to make. It becomes even more intimidating when you look down each road and see options, but no end, no outcomes. The mystery of it all provides a great amount of excitement and adventure accompanied by a heaping portion of doubt and anxiety. Someone said the other day, "We need to have vision. If you don't have vision for where you are going, you'll get lost." Immediately I took this the worst way possible and decided that meant I needed to figure out exactly what my near & distant future would look like, right in that moment. I began to run 100 meter dashes down each road in my mind, hoping to catch some certain vision so I wouldn't be one of those to get lost. I've realized now how silly that was. The vision I need to catch is God's vision. And I should know by now that the way to catch His vision is to STOP, sit under that road sign and just rest. I've got this great, all-knowing God who has the vision. He has directed every single one of my steps up to this point, and He's done a pretty good job of placing me perfectly on every perfect path at any crossroad in the past. And He always did it with no less than perfect timing. Not only does He reveal the path, stand me up, and set me in the right direction, He makes every preparation (no matter how much credit I want to take for planning, there is so much that is out of my hands), He fills in all the details of the plan as I walk in it, and He creates all of the perfect products, more than my own efforts could ever create. I literally have nothing to fear or worry about. So I'm choosing to rest in the faithfulness that has brought me this far, to a very content me. I'm going to rest, and listen, and just be with Him. And when He says "Go," I'll be perfectly positioned to hear Him and to be placed. Then I'll move. With Him. And watch the goodness unfold. Thank God He always takes care of me...my needs and my wants, my passions and my dreams. Even the craziest ones. He created them, He loves them, and He's brought me to them before and I know He will again. Thank God my heart and soul are anything but boring, that my dreams are anything but practical and simplistic, because God is so much fun and capable of so much more than we imagine! Rest with Him for a while, let Him download into you His visions for your life in His timing, while you relax and trust that He makes no mistakes. And don't just take my word for it..Believe He has a plan and He is good, because HE said so! =]

"'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord..." Jeremiah 29:11-14

HOW SWEET IS THAT! YESSSS! He really is great!! And we can take Him up on that. I am. I dare you to also! Go seek Him, go be with Him, He's got good things in store =]

I'm A New Creation.

Insecurity is a mean and nasty monster that ravages the cores of our beings and attempts to tear us to shreds until there is nothing left. Okay, that might sound dramatic, but I mean honestly, it can feel like that!

Oh, what it would be to live in a world where we never compared ourselves, never tried to measure up to a standard - a standard that, though we may blame others for it, we set (or rather accept) it for ourselves. Sure, it looks like everyone is a certain way and there seems to be one way to be a perfect model of a boyfriend/girlfriend, child, friend, etc., and it seems society approves of only one thing, but we don't have to agree with it. We have chosen to embrace the standard that everyone is embracing simply because everyone else is embracing it and yet we all hate it. We find our worth and value in the very things we criticize others for finding their worth and value in. Crazy, huh?

This seeps into every area of life. Every way of us trying to prove ourselves and find our worth. It can be on an individual basis, in your own heart and mind.
Appearance is a biggie. I've been there, done that a thousand times -- gotta look just right, a little thinner here, a little fuller there, gotta look effortless but put in all the time in the world, what's that bump, where do I get those clothes, why can't I just have her lips, her nose, her forehead, blah blah blah.
Achievements. Needing to be the best, and I'm not talking about genuinely having a passion for something and wanting to be the best one can be at it, but I'm talking about needing to prove something to oneself. That I am capable, I am talented, and I find my value in whatever I can achieve.

Relationships is another.
With parents --- I have to do things their way, their plan, their desires for my life. If I step away, if I take a risk, if I pursue what I'm passionate about instead of what they are passionate about for me, I'd surely break their hearts. Or perhaps, in a worse scenario (in my opinion), trying to earn the affections and approval of parents that never granted you a moment of that. Gotta make them love me, gotta prove myself, gotta make myself worthwhile, I am a good kid, I was not a mistake, see, don't you see all I've done and become?
With friends -- am I too loud and obnoxious? Am I too quiet? I should tone it down. I should amp it up. I like to be funny, but I'd rather not risk the embarassment. Back and forth. Too much attention, too little attention. Want to make the girls jealous, want more than anything for them to just be my friends. Want the guys to find me attractive, wish more than anything that friendship was enough.
With a boyfriend/girlfriend -- Gotta make it look exactly perfect, can't make a mistake, gotta be the ideal, can't care too much, can't care too little. Gotta play hard to get, gotta give them more. Gotta act real confident on my own, gotta let them know I need their love.

These are just some ways, some of which I've experienced very personally. But as I face these insecurites and all the confusion they leave in their wake, I realize that in order for me to stop believing lies about who I should be and what I should look and act like, I need to know who I actually am and what  I actually look like, to the ONLY ONE who matters.  We have to ask God for His eyes and He will give them to us. We can look in a mirror and see what HE sees, a perfect and new creation, not marked or blemished by anything. The ones we love (family, friends, significant other) will see us through His eyes, a perfect and new creation, not marked or blemished by anything. And if that's not the case, we ought to run quick and hide ourselves in God's Love, because once we secure ourselves in the reality of how God has made us and what God says, we do NOT need another soul to try and tear that away, to try and take that security into their hands and do as they will with it. And we must watch carefully our hearts with others, especially with a spouse-to-be. One might want to say, "Well the pressure put on me by the other person makes me this way. If they would make me feel secure, I wouldn't be so...." Wrong. If there is that pressure, we do not need to accept it. We do not need to change to be perfect for someone. There is someone who will see us perfectly even when we are not and know how to love us through it. Hopefully they will use their words and their love to comfort and uplift us in weak moments, but we need not rest our security on that. We must be founded in God. On the other side, we also can not blame our boy/girl for our desires to meet a standard that we may have very well set for ourselves--we might be the one putting the presssure. And on the other other side, we can't get mad at someone for not accepting the standard that we set, because they are already secure in their identity God.

On another note, perhaps your insecurity comes from a very real hurt from your past, something done to you or something you brought upon yourself. Either way, let that into God's hands. Your past does not define the person you are. What you may have done wrong or had done wrong to you does not make your identity. It can be used by God to shape you even more beautifully, but other than that, it deserves no place in your life, it is unworthy of your emotions or mindsets. I beg of you, ask God to take your past and rid you of its hold on you, because you are not what anyone has told you, not 30 years ago, not a few months ago, and not even a minute ago. God is making us new second by second, minute by minute. That is the beauty of His Grace. His Redeeming Love.

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Corinthians 5:17, receive it for every moment.

I say all of this out of a place of some tough insecurity right now. But I knew as I found myself burying myself in the mud feeling foolish and sorry for myself, that writing out these truths would pull me out of that pit of insecurity (that truly I put myself in) and would put me back in the pure, great, glorious light of God's love and security. When I find myself in Him, I find myself full, complete, joyful, feeling truly beautiful and comfortable in my skin, loving who I am in Him, trusting He will bring me to true joy in my pursuits, satisfied with my personality and all of its quirks, free from wondering who will accept me and who will not, because I am accepted by my Creator, Father, Friend, & First Love, and I can trust that He will bring me wholesome relationships where His Love reigns between family, friends, and spouses-to-be.

We can rest here. Our minds can be at peace. And we don't have to strive anymore.